Garmin-Asus planning Android handset

If you love your Eee PC but want something matching to make 'phone calls on, Asus just might be preparing the answer to your dreams as part of a collaboration with GPS specialist Garmin.

According to an article over on PC World, the pair are looking to unleash a “low-cost smartphone” under the Eee brand later this year.

So far the neither Asus or Garmin has been willing to give the game away, but it's thought that the device will be a touchscreen unit running Google's Android platform – the first implementation by either company, although both have dabbled in Linux-based operating systems in the past.

While the Eee 'Phone might not be due for a few months yet, the newly-named Garmin-Asus – how original – mobile group has already revealed a pair of products to whet your appetite. First on the list is the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20 – a Windows Mobile 6.1-based smartphone handset featuring in-built GPS alongisde a car dock and full set of navigational maps for turn-by-turn directions. It's not hard to see what Garmin has brought to the partership with this one; Asus, on the other hand, seems to have contributed the option to buy the handset in a variety of colours – although a matching white to go with your Eee PC is sadly missing from the line-up.

If the M20's teeny-tiny 2.8” touchscreen isn't quite up to snuff, the pair are also releasing the G60 – a far more beefy unit featuring a larger 3.5” screen and a Linux-based OS – although, for now, not Android. On-board storage of 4GB alongside 128MB memory and a rather dinky 3MP camera make up the remainder of the device – and you'll be pleased to hear that it will feature the same GPS and navigation functionality as its Windows Mobile brother.

Tempted by either of the devices the partnership has currently revealed, or are you waiting with bated breath for the Android goodness to make an appearance> Share your thoughts over in the forums.